I'm a millennial and my college required that test prior to enrolling in classes. That was the first time I took the (rather distressing, tbh, maybe they should have to warned me) skin inflatey test.
I just looked and my college still requires that test. So, might just be a regional thing. Grad school in the same state didn't require the test, so maybe it had to do with staying in the dorms in undergrad?
Like how my brother "rescued" a puppy by buying it from a pet store. (16 years ago, and yes I don't approve of puppy mills. Pup now lives with me and is a good grumpy old man dog)
Same up in Connecticut. I have so many crappy "reusable" plastic bags from Target pickup orders during the height of the pandemic. I can't bring myself to get rid of them because they're "reusable", so I use them to hold donations for the thrift store and get rid of them that way. I also use them as packing material.
I have other, nicer bags I use when I go to shopping.
I just heard an ad on a podcast inviting me to visit Key West, Florida, which is apparently an LGBT resort paradise.
Not happening, not even if they paid me.
I'm also ace, but I live with an opposite sex partner, so that helps me look less queer. We're both gender non-conforming (I'm non-binary, he's unlabeled), but that's something we can tone down.
I can't tell if you're in high school or college. Things got easier for me when I moved away for college. I got to figure out who I was, away from my family and people that knew me as a child. I went to an engineering school and it was wonderful to have a bunch of other misfits to hang out with. Looking back, I think my new friend group was very non-neurotypical.
Anyways, I hope you find a good, supportive friend group.
Things must have changed since I was a kid in the US. I remember being told to start walking when my ride home fell through. They wouldn't let me use a phone to call for another ride (pre cell phone). The teacher did ask if I knew how to get home and I did, but the only route I knew was along the high way.
That happened a few times.
Thanks. My ancestors avoided WWI and WWII by emigrating. I can't judge them for that, so it feels fair to give myself the same option.
I really don't know. Me personally, I'm pursuing citizenship in an EU country so I can at least have an exit strategy other than "drive to Canada and hope they let me in". Other than that, I'm active in my union and I talk with my neighbors. I walk my dog and am visibly a Nice Normal Person who happens to be Queer.
It's scary being queer here, so I might tone that down a bit as I get more scared. Which is what They want, but, hey, I'm scared.
It wasn't that uncommon at the time. Take a look at this 2005 study the US GAO did on the issue: Social Security Numbers: Federal and State Laws Restrict Use of SSNs, yet Gaps Remain Also, this news article on the trend.
I vote for Usan, pronounced YOO-sn.
I started it to keep my hands occupied during a class. I love the simple 2-color pattern. I picked the kit up from Stitched Modern.
Woodblock print of a grumpy-faced man in a tunic shoving a lion in the face. The lion's head is turned towards the viewer and he has a goofy look on his face. His tail is held high. The man holds a club in his left hand. Surrounding the lion and man is a tree, an embankment, and foliage.
Found at: The British Museum
Image description: Japanese print with orange background. Print shows various circus performers, including people interacting with horses, an elephant on a barrel, a man standing on a tiger holding a second tiger's mouth open and a third tiger resting on his arm, clowns tumbling, acrobats, and horses on a teeter-totter.
Found at: Library of Congress
Image description: metal statue of a man wrestling with a lion.
Found at The Smithsonian.
I've gotten back into cross-stitch. It's a lovely, cheap hobby. Once you're set up with hoops, scissors and needles, the only recurring cost is floss (~60¢ aka 0.60USD each) and cloth/AIDA. Cost per hour spent is very low and you end up with a hangable or giftable object. It keeps my handiwork brain busy while I focus on something else, or try and de-stress from everything else. I'm currently stitching on a medieval cat snail pattern I got off of etsy.. I'm excited to use the gold thread--it's so shiny and I've never worked with it before.